Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-06-16

graph in Possession of DR.. Johnson.
mall feet under Commodore Franklin
Buchanan. In the Confederate fleet was a
owerful vessel, the ram Tennessee.
The 9Th of August General Granger
anded body of troops on Dauphin Island
nd invested Fort Gaines.
Early on the morning of Augusta Ad-
iiral Farragut attacked Fort Morgan and
he Confederate fiotilla.
Soon after the engagement began, the
,ecumseh, fine iron clad, struck torpedo
nd almost instantly sunk, carrying to the
bottom of the bay all but twenty-one out of
crew of one hundred men.
The other vessels of the Federal feet
Eept right on, however, and ran past Fort
Morgan and the torpedoes. A little later
the ram Tennessee bore down upon the
feet and was soon overpowered and capt
ured.
August Fort Gaines, with over eight
hundred men, surrendered to General
Granger,
Later Fort Morgan was invested, and,
August %. fell into the hands of the Fed
erals. Thus Mobile, at the head of Mobile
bay, was effectually shut off from block
ade runners, having its outlet Theoretically
sealed by fleet of Federal vessels.
early in March, as narrated in the last
number. The men debarked from the
steamer and went into camp in the sand.
The region was sterile and as uninterest-
ing as could be imagined.
Fort Morgan, however, had gained much
notoriety from It's engagement with Com
modore Farragut's feet, the previous Au-
gust. 1t showed marks of the lombard
ment in dismantled walls and broken brick
work
Near the camp was sand-hill twenty or
thirty feet high from which the vessels at
distance and Dauphin Island were
viewed. A school of porpoises could often
be seen at play in the waters of the bay;
this to the men, nearly all of whom were
from the interior, was novel sight.
One day orders came to march. Mean
while the Thirteenth Corps had been re-
organized and was now under command of
General Gordon Granger. This was spe-
cially pleasing to the old members of that
organization.
The 18th day of March the journey from
Mobile Point, along the eastern side of Mo-
bile bay, was begun. The loose sand made
the walking very hard. The writer had
not marched with gun, accouterments,
knapsack, ETC., for some time; hence this
tramping through heavy sand was any
thing but pleasant. So weary did he be-
come after some hours that had it not been
for the name of the thing he would have
given out. But ones pride is sharp spur
and often urges man on to do his utmost.
The country passed over was all sandy
and very level. All the timber was pine.
Fires were made from pine knots found in
abundance under the trees. The mems
faces became covered with smut, smoke
and CRIME; tAe resin made it adhesive, and
washing this off seemed out of the ques-
ton.
In the midst of the forest, turpentine
"orchards'' were reached. Here cup
shaped notches had been cut into the
trunks of the larger trees and these had
filed with resin. One night some one set
fire in the ''orchard" and the inflammable
nature of the resin caused the flames to
mount strong and high.
At one period in the march rain fell in
torrents, and the roads became almost i'm
passable for wagons and artillery.
Sometimes when the teams became
stalled they were detached, long ropes tied
to the wagons and pieces of artillery, and
upon these dozens of men exerted their
strength and generally succeeded where
the mules had failed. In many cases cor
duroy roads-poleS laid crosswise-had to
be made.
But the troops were bound to overcome
oil obstacles and hence never grumbled.
One day wide, shallow stream was en-
countered, when the men were halted, or
dered to remove shoes and stockings, roll
their pants high and wade. When the
opposite bank was reached, every man
dried his feet and legs in the bestway pos
sible, put on his shoes and stockings and
resumed the march.
The advance of the column, after some
days progress, met and skirmished with
the enemy. Toward the latter part Of the
month of March, Spanish Fort, east of Mo-
bile, was reached. This was one of the
keys to the military situation at Mobile,
and was laid siege to by the Federals the
last days of March.
The Federal gunboats held the water
front of Spanish Fort and cut of COM
munication with Mobile. No effort at as
sault was made by tho Federals and the
approaches were guarded with rife pits;
hence the loss of life was inconsiderable.